Management Theory of F.Taylor - Essay Example

Frederick Taylor’s scientific management theory Managing is one of the most essential human activities. Since the time people started forming organizations as a means of achieving objectives that could not be achieved through individual efforts, the need for management arose to ensure the coordination of activities. Management is seen to be most effective if it is not based on theoretical knowledge but when it is a mixture of both theory and knowledge. This paper focuses on the scientific management theory proposed by Frederick Taylor.

It identifies the central argument of this theory and goes ahead to bring out the various issues that led to the development of the fundamental principles of this theory. It then looks at the various criticism against the theory and concludes by a reflection on this theory and how it has impacted the field of management. This was among the first management theories that started the era of modern management. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Taylor was decrying the awkward, inefficient or ill directed movements of men at the place of work as a national loss.

Taylor sought consistently to overthrow the “rule of the thumb” and replace this with actual timed observations leading what he termed as the one best practice (Jacqueline, 2005). He advocated for the application of the scientific method in the management of workers because it improved productivity to a large extent. The scientific method he proposed called for the optimization of the way tasks were performed and the simplification of these tasks so that all workers could be trained to perform their specialized sequence of motions in the one “best” way (Miner, 2007).

Taylor while working in the steel industry made some observations purposely operating below their capacity. This he termed as soldiering. Taylor saw this aspect as a result of the following three causes: (1) The workers had a near universal belief that if they became more productive in their work, fewer of them would be required to perform jobs and therefore jobs would be eliminated; (2) The non-incentive wage systems encourage low productivity among the employees, if the employee will receive the same pay regardless of how much is produced.

He observed that employees take great care not to work at a faster pace because of the fear that the pace will set a new standard; (3) workers are seen to waste much of their effort through the reliance on rule of the thumb methods instead of optimal work methods that could be determined by scientific study of the involved task (Murphy & Willmott, 2010). In order to counter the above problems and improve efficiency, Taylor began to perform some experiments. This was done in order to determine the best performance level for certain jobs and what was important in order to achieve the required performance.

These studies or experiments were termed as the “Time studies” (Wagner-Tsukamoto, 2008). He continued to argue that even the most basic tasks could be planned in a way that would dramatically improve performance and that his proposed scientific management method was more effective than the initiative and incentive method of motivating the workers. The latter offered the employees incentives in order to increase their productivity but the problem was the employees were burdened with the responsibility of finding out how to do it (Miner, 2007).

After several studies Taylor proposed four principles of scientific management: (1) to replace the rule of the thumb methods of management and replace these methods with the more effective methods that are based on scientific study. He talks of the need to develop a “science of work” by eliminating pay and other rewards that were linked to optimal performance. He observed that failure to do this would result in loss of earnings. (2) Scientifically select, train and develop individual workers rather than leaving them to train themselves.

Each of the workers was to be trained to be first class at some specific task. (3) Cooperate with the employees to ensure that the scientifically developed management methods are being followed. (4) Divide work nearly equally between managers and workers so that the managers apply scientific management principles to planning the work and the workers actually perform the work. Work and responsibility was to be divided equally between the workers and management both cooperating together in close interdependence (Wagner-Tsukamoto, 2008).

This theory saw the implementation of these principles in many factories. This resulted in increased productivity by a factor of three or more. Families also began to perform some of the house hold tasks based on this theory and the results of the time studies (Jacqueline, 2005). Many criticisms have been put forward concerning this theory. The first criticism is that it led to the exploitation of workers because it put pressure on employees to perform duties faster. Importance was given to profitability and productivity and this resulted in the exploitation of workers.

Secondly, here was problem of unity of command as he used functional foremanship where the employees reported to various bosses and this caused confusion and chaos in the organization. Thirdly, it employed a mechanical approach as it relied too much on efficiency and failed to consider the human element thus treating workers like robots. Fourth, it places great emphasis on individual performance rather than team work. Critics say that success is dependent on both individual contributions and group performance.

Fifth it was based on wrong assumptions that workers are motivated by financial gains. Research shows that workers are not only motivated by financial incentives but also by social and personal egos (Wagner-Tsukamoto, 2008). In conclusion Taylor’s theory of scientific management brought a new thinking to most managers at that time. It influenced so many people and companies that began implementing its principles. Many benefited from applying this approach but problems began to emerge with workers feeling the pressure from being treated as robots.

The theory is still being used today in organizations though other approaches like the systems theory have been known to work more effectively in the contemporary business world (Murphy & Willmott, 2010). References Jacqueline, M. (2005). Management Techniques and theories. British journal of administrative management, 09/2005:17. Miner, J. B. (2007). Organizational behaviour: From theory to practice. New York: M. E Sharpe. Murphy, D. J., & Willmott, H. (2010). Organization Theory and Design.

New York: Cengage Learning. Wagner-Tsukamoto, S. (2008). Scientific Management revisited: Did Taylorism fail because of a too positive image of human nature? Journal of Management History, 14(4):348 - 372.